Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Tonya Papanikolas Reporting Orem police are calling Tarius Wright a hero for helping stop a potentially dangerous driver.
Tarius Wright: "As it became more extreme and I saw the damage he was doing I thought this guy needs to stop before he kills somebody."
People who work with him say they believe he wanted to go on a joyride. The driver suffered a brain injury when he was young and never learned to drive. But yesterday, he took advantage of an opportunity.
Amazingly, this incident ended with nobody being hurt, everyone was safe. The man did drive down Center Street in Orem and cars had to swerve out of the way, but he didn't hit anyone. While all this was happening a man who worked with the individual jumped to the rescue.
The damage to the truck just begins to tell the story of what happened inside it yesterday. Tarius Wright and Jared Jaynes where talking outside the truck when Howard, a handicapped man they were about to transport, got behind the wheel.
Jared Jaynes, Supervisor: "The individual slid over to the driver's seat and proceeded to take off and take control of the vehicle."
The two men ran after Howard, but he'd locked the doors. As they yelled at him, Howard knocked into a rain gutter and rammed this white pickup truck into the wall of a neighboring building. Then, he backed out and kept going.
Tarius Wright: "He hit this air conditioning unit. Jared was right to the side of that and almost got hit."
That's when Tarius jumped on the side of the truck as Howard swerved back and forth to get him off.
Tarius Wright: "I was kind of clinging on it, like on a horse with my legs, and trying to punch through the window."
After two blocks of trying to hang on Tarius was finally able to jump in the back of the truck. Once inside he was lucky enough to find a hammer and that's how he broke the glass.
Soon Tarius was able to put on the brakes and restrain Howard as officers arrived.
Tarius Wright: "I wasn't willing to let Howard get onto the freeway, which is where I assumed he was going, so I wasn't willing to bail out. I mean, I had to stop him some way."
Because of his mental capacity officers did not arrest Howard, but they are still considering filing charges against him. The D.A.'s office is screening charges of reckless endangerment and stealing a vehicle.
